Toothpick-machine.



u .89 209. PATENTED AUG. 18 1908.

0 W. F. HUTGHINSON.

TOOTHPIGK MACHINE. APPLIOATION FILED 00T. 1, 1907.

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WITNESSES.-

Ziwx BY A TTORNEK #MMW v IALLJN lnu AUG. 18, 1908. W. F. HUTGHINSON. TOOTHPIOK MAGHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED OOT.1, 1907. 4 H B H SHEBT 2.

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PATENTED AUG. 18, 1908. W F HUTCHINSON.

: (Q5 z y .5. JLWfl I M? TOOTHPIOK MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED 0OT.1, 1907.

W l T NE SSE S I 5 No. 896 209. PATENTED AU W- F. HUTOHINSON. G 18, 1908 TOOTHPIGK MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED 00T.1, 1907.

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57 (Tg n 65 Ii WW M MW UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM F. HUTOHINSON, OF NYACK, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO CORNELIUS V. A. BLAUVELT, TRUSTEE, OF NYAGK, NEW YORK.

TOOTHPICK-MACHINE.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. HUToH- INSON, of Nyack, Rockland county, New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Toothpick-Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in toothpick machines, and more especially to improvements in machines of this kind which are adapted to make so-called round toothpicks, that is, toothpicks which are generally circular in cross section. These picks, in order to be desirable and to bring high price in the market, must be very smooth and nicely finished.

The object of my invention is to produce a machine which will make picks of this kind very rapidly, which will also make them better than usual, and which will make the picks with a flattened point so that they will go between the teeth better than so-called round picks which carry the circular section down near the point.

My invention is also intended to produce a machine which will automatically feed cards or short strips of veneer to the cutting mechanism, and will form and discharge the picks with great rapidity.

With these ends in view, my invention consists of a toothpick machine, the construction and operation of which will be hereinafter described and the novel features claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specifica tion, in which similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a front view of the same. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 3.3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a section through the feed on the line 4.4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a section of the chute on the line 5.5 of Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a section of the chute on the line 6.6 of Fig. 3. Fig. 7 is an inside elevation of the feed chute. Fig. 8 is a broken section on the line 8 of Fig. 3. Fig. 9 is a detail of the cam mechanism for regulating the sharpening of the picks. Fig. 10 is a side elevation of a complete pick, this being enlarged, and Fig. 1 1 is an end view of the complete pick.

The machine has a suitable frame 10, which Patented Aug. 18, 1908.

Serial No. 395,337.

can be of any approved construction, and in the upper part of the machine is a feed boX 11 which is of generally rectangular shape, and is open at the ends, this being supported on a standard 12 or equivalent support, and being adapted to contain the cards or short strips of veneer or stock 13, these being )referably of hard wood and the width of the to the length of the pick.

The cards are automatically pushed forward to the feeding and cutting mechanism by the follower 14, which slides in the box 1 1 and this can be held up against the cards in any convenient way. As shown the follower has arms 15 which are secured to cables 16, extending back over guide pulleys 17 which are supported on tracks 18, and the cables have weights 19 sufficiently heavy to cause the follower to press in a proper manner against the stock-cards 13. The stock cards 13 are fed one by one downward through a chute formed between the two vertically arranged parts 20 and 20, and to accomplish this feeding into the chute, sprocket chains 21 are used, which move downward opposite the inner end of the box 11, and at necessary intervals the chains carry abutments 22 in the form of cross strips, each being of a thickness to engage the first stock card 13, but not thick enough to engage two.

The chains 21 can be of any usual kind, or any equivalent means of carrying the abutments 22 can be used. As shown, the chains run over sprocket wheels 23 which are secured to the shafts 24 and 25, these being arranged one beneath the other, and for convenience the upper shaft is adjustable so that the chains can always be taut. Any form of adjustment will answer, but I have shown the upper shaft 25 having its boxes carried in slides 26, which are adjustable in the sides of the frame by means of the screws 27 and nuts 27 and the slides are also held in place by bolts 28 having suitable nuts, which bolts extend through the side frames and through slots 29 in the slide 26.

convenient way, and I have shown the lower shaft 24 provided with a gear wheel 30 which meshes with a pinion 31 on the stud 32, which also has a ear 33 on one of the feed shafts 34, presently referred to. This shaft strips lengthwise of the grain corresponding The shafts 24 and 25 can be driven in any has an outside gear 35 meshing with a side gear 36 on the stud 37, and the gear 36 meshes with a gear 38 which turns on the stud or shaft 39, and the gear 38 connects by a sleeve 40 with the driving pulley 41.

The shaft 34 carries a feed roll 42, which is arranged opposite a similar feed roll 42 this being carried by a shaft 34 and the two shafts are geared together as shown at 43 so that both will turn in unison. They are made to turn downward and to impinge through the opening 42 (see Fig. 7) in the part 20 of the chute, and carry the stock downward to the cutter presently referred to. In this connection it will be noticed that the opening in the upper end of the stock chute is simply a rectangular slot, but this changes as the work proceeds, so that the chute fits the picks as they are partially formed and as they are fully formed. The feed rollers 4242 carry the stock downward to the first cutter head 45, which turns opposite a roller 44, this serving as a bearing for the stock so that the cutter head will turn snugly and firmly against the stock.

The cutter head is carried by a shaft 46 which is mounted in adjustable bearings 47, these being slidable in and out with relation to the bearing roller 44, and the boxes or bearings can be adjusted by means of a screw 48. No novelty is claimed for this, and other means of adjustment can be used if preferred. The shaft 46 is driven by a separate pulley 49 to which a belt can be attached, so that the cutter head can be driven at high speed. The cutter head turns up against the feed of the stock cards as shown by the arrows in Fig. 3, and it is like a planer head, having a series of knives 50 arranged around its periphery, but the knives instead of being plain, have their edges shaped to cut a half round section on the stock. This can be seen in Fig. 2, and it will be noticed by reference to Fig. 5, that the guide chute 2020" has a series of half round vertical slots in the part 20 to fit the stock after it has been partially shaped as above described.

The bearing roller 44 is adjustable in and out with relation to the cutter head, so that as the stock passes the roller and cutter head, the roller can be pushed inward near one edge of the stock, thus causing a deeper incision to be made at this point, which will be at the part where the picks are to be sharpened. The means for working the bearing roller in and out will be described with reference to the bearing roller 44 which is arranged below the bearing roller 44 and on the opposite side of the guide chute, while the cutter head 45 like that already described, is arranged opposite the roller 44*, and forms the second half of the toothpicks. The cutter head 45 and bearing roller 44 work through openings 44 in the feed chute, while the second roller and cutter 44 and 45 work through a second opening 45*, and the second cutter head is driven by a pulley 49 The upper bearing roller 44 can be turned in any convenient Way, but as shown its shaft 51 is provided with a gear 52 meshing with a gear 53 on the shaft 37, already referred to. The lower bearing roller 44 is as stated, on the opposite side of the guide chute, and its shaft 51 (see Fig. 8) is mounted in boxes 54, which have a slight lateral sliding movement in the slots 55. The shaft 51 has a gear wheel 56 meshing with a gear wheel 57 on the shaft 58, which is parallel with the shaft 51, and the teeth of the gears 56 and 57 are long enough to provide for the short sliding movement of the boxes 54. The shaft 58 has a gear 59 (see Fig. 1) which meshes with a gear 60 on the stud 61, and this meshes with an idle gear 62 which is journaled on the side of the frame and meshes with the gear 36, already referred to.

A pair of feed rollers 69 which force the finished picks through the guide chute, are arranged below the cutter head 45 and bearing roller 44, and these rollers 69 are driven from the shaft 58. The latter has a gear wheel 63 (see Fig. 8) meshing with a gear wheel 64 shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3, which is secured to a stud 65, and the stud 65 carries also a gear wheel 66 meshing with the two part gear 67, which also engages the gear 68 on the shaft of one of the rollers 69, and the gear 68 meshes with a corresponding gear 68 on the shaft of the second roller 69. I have described this gear mechanism in order that the operation of the machine may be better traced, but obviously any suitable mechanism for driving the parts can be substituted for that shown.

It will be seen that the picks are shaped on one side by the cutter-head 45 and on the other side by the cutter 45 and that the finished picks are carried downward by the rollers 69 which impinge on the picks through the opening 68 in the guide chute, and the picks are carried down and discharged through the opening 70 in the bed-plate 10 of the machine.

The movement of the bearing roller 44 in and out with reference to its opposed cutter head, is effected by the cam mechanism. shown best in Figs. 8 and 9. The outer ends of the shaft 58 are provided with a cam 71 having a cam groove 72 therein, which is only slightly eccentric, as the movement imparted by the cam is small, and the cam groove receives the roller 73 on the end of the shaft 51. The arrangement as stated is cormnon to both ends of the shaft, and the cam groove is constructed so that the bearing roller 44 will be pushed in towards the cutter head 45 when the ends of the picks are opposite the cutter head, so that the cut will be deeper at this point, thus sharpening one side of the picks. The same arrangement is made on the bearing roller 44, only the opposite sides of the picks are sharpened.

The complete pick 13 is shown in Fig. 10, and an end view in Fig. 11 shows at 13 how the sharpened part is flattened on opposite sides to make a point which will go easily be tween the teeth.

To provide for holding the picks as they are formed against the lower bearing roller 44*, a leaf spring 74 can be inserted in the guide chute, and this can have arms 75 which are fastened to the side of the chute as shown clearly in Figs. 4 and 7.

The guide chute is rectangular at the top as already stated to receive the cards 13, and after it passes the first cutter head it is grooved on one side to correspond to the stock, while afterit passes the lower cutter head it is grooved on both sides as shown in Fig. 6, so that the picks are separately guided.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the cards 13 are one by one forced into the guide chute, that the cards are fed accurately downward to the several cutter heads, that the latter, acting like planer knives, are adapted to make a very smooth pick, that the sharpening arrangement is such as to produce a thinned point, and that as a result picks of very high quality are rapidly produced. Obviously the particular part of the cutter head can be changed, a greater or less number of knives can be used, and the driving mechanism of the machine can be changed at will without affecting the principle of the invention.

I have shown and described the machine as adapted for making toothpicks, but obviously it can be used for making skewers or other round articles of essentially similar shape, and the articles need not be sharpened, in which case the cam mechanism for moving the upper rollers in and out is omitted.

Having thus fully described my invention,

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A toothpick machine, comprising a vertically arranged stock chute extending through the machine, means for feeding veneer stock into the chute, a pair of feed to impinge on the stock, a rotary cutter and an opposed abutting roller working in openings through the chute below the feed rolls, a second cutter and rotary abutment arranged below the iirst mentioned cutter, and a second pair of feed rollers below the last named cutter and its abutment.

2. A toothpick machine comprising a vertically arranged chute, a feed hopper adapted to contain sheets of stock and discharge them into the chute, feed rollers extending through the chute to impinge on the stock therein, and opposed cutting devices arranged one below the other, each cutting device consisting of a rotary cutter working through an opening in the chute and an opposed abutting roller working through the opposite side of the chute and having a cam connected therewith to move it in and out with relation to its cutter.

3. A toothpick machine comprising a chute extending through the machine, a feed hopper having means for feeding stock strips into the chute, feed rollers working through openings in the chute and impinging on the stock, and cutting devices arranged in following series, each cutting device comprising a rotary cutter working through an o ening in the chute and a rotary abutting rol.er working through an opening in the opposite side of the chute, together with cam actuated means for moving the roller in and out with relation to the cutter.

WILLIAM F. HUTCHINSON.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM S. GREEN, EVA Z. BRYANT.

rollers extending through a part of the chute. 

